


Ride: Chapter Twelve

by pinto_round_robin, reeby10



Series: Ride [11]
Category: Star Trek RPF
Genre: Angst, Chris makes questionable decisions, Fights, M/M, Pining, Pinto Round Robin, Road Trips, Round Robin, not the physical kind
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-06-25
Updated: 2015-06-25
Packaged: 2018-04-06 03:41:28
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,833
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4206633
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/pinto_round_robin/pseuds/pinto_round_robin, https://archiveofourown.org/users/reeby10/pseuds/reeby10
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Sitting in the passenger seat of his beautiful new car, listening to Zach sing along to some band he’s never heard of, Chris tries to tell himself it wasn’t jealousy that made him do it. He was just being a good friend, that was all.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Ride: Chapter Twelve

They do eventually make it out of Flagstaff and back down I-40, but Chris is almost too distracted to notice. There’s a sick feeling in the pit of his stomach that even Zach’s delighted smile at finally getting to pick the music can’t cure.

He can’t get that text from Miles out of his head. It was so strange to him that Miles was texting that, like he hadn’t totally broken Zach’s heart, like they hadn’t been broken up and sold the apartment in New York. He had no right to text things like that.

But then again, Chris had no right to delete the text either.

He feels bad about it, like really, _really_ bad. Sitting in the passenger seat of his beautiful new car, listening to Zach sing along to some band he’s never heard of, Chris tries to tell himself it wasn’t jealousy that made him do it. He just didn’t want to disturb the fragile peace they’d built or to upset Zach again. He was just being a good friend, that was all.

Too bad he’d never been very good at lying to himself. It eats away at him all the way through the hour long drive to the next town.

“Lunch?” Zach asks, and Chris startles, not realizing it was that time already.

“Yeah, yeah,” Chris replies, trying to pull his thoughts together. He’d looked up places of interest before they left the motel, but that depended on where they were stopping. “Where are we?”

“Winslow, I think.”

Chris nods, a smile growing on his face. “I know just the place,” he says. He tells Zach where to turn, and in just a few minutes they’re parking in front of a vintage looking diner.

“Really?” Zach asks. His raised eyebrow would be a lot more effective if half of it weren’t still missing, but Chris decides not to mention that. “You really have a hard-on for the 1950’s don’t you?”

“Fuck off,” Chris says, smiling as they pull hats from under the seat and put them on before heading inside. “It’s iconic Americana.”

Lunch is good, greasy burgers and perfectly cooked fries. Zach doesn’t even seem too put out about how unhealthy it all is when he smells the fresh apple pie. To be fair, it does smell delicious, and tastes even better.

Apparently driving has put Zach in a good mood because he doesn’t ask for his phone back once during their stop. Chris doesn’t even think about it until he feels the buzz of another text while Zach’s in the bathroom and pulls the phone out to see another text from Miles. He deletes that one too, barely looking at it long enough to see that it says _please, Zach, I miss you_. The guilt kind of makes him want to throw back up everything he’d eaten.

They pay and leave the restaurant, miraculously unrecognized the entire time, and Chris immediately leads Zach across the street. There are a few people standing around a statue of a man and a guitar, taking pictures. They both pull their hats a little lower on instinct.

“What’s this?” Zach asks, looking around.

“Read the sign,” Chris replies, pointing above the statue. There’s a sign shaped like a road sign that reads STANDIN’ ON THE CORNER. “Like the song?”

“Jackson Browne,” Zach says, nodding. “Well I'm a-standin' on the corner in Winslow, Arizona, with such a fine sight to see.”

Chris smiles back. “It's a girl, my Lord, in a flatbed Ford,” he sings along, careful to be quiet enough that the people around them won’t hear. “Slowin' down to take a look at me.”

They look at each other and laugh until a teen girl near them is eying them a little too suspiciously. “Let’s get out of here,” Zach says. Chris just nods in agreement and they head back to the car.

***

They’ve been driving through the Painted Desert for a while before they actually see the tourist information building. It doesn’t take much debate before they turn off onto the side road and into the desert.

“Wanna hike a little?” Chris asks about ten minutes down the road, squinting into the bright sunlight as he looks around. He’d really like to get a little more up close and personal with their surroundings, maybe take some pictures.

“Ugh, fine,” Zach replies, but he’s pulling off to the side almost immediately so he probably doesn’t mind too much. “Can I have my phone for pictures?”

Chris clutches the phone for a moment, panic bubbling in his chest, but forces himself to relax. There’s no way Zach will know about the texts, right? He’s just being paranoid because of how guilty he still feels about deleting them, but as long as he just acts normal it will all be fine. Probably.

He hands off the phone as they step out of the car and wander off to the side a bit, looking around curiously at the rocks and sand and sparse plants.

“It’s beautiful,” Chris says after a moment. So colorful and vibrant, and somehow reminding him of one of the alien landscapes on Star Trek.

He hears Zach snort a few feet behind him. “And _hot_.”

“Oh sorry, I forgot how delicate you are,” Chris retorts, turning around with a grin. Zach’s hat is pulled low, but he’s taken his sunglasses off. It was hard to see all the colors with sunglasses on, so obviously Zach isn’t as immune to the charms of the desert as he’d like to act.

In no time at all, they both have their cameras out and are taking pictures of the landscape. Chris secretly takes a few of Zach as well, wanting to remember this, especially if things go to shit thanks to those texts and his lack of impulse control.

“Ok, this is pretty cool,” Zach admits after a while. He smiles and Chris can feel his heart beat a little faster in his chest.

“Yeah,” Chris says absently, “yeah, it is.”

It’s late in the afternoon when they finally make it back to the car and on the road. Chris is feeling much more relaxed, if a bit sunburned, and he thinks Zach probably feels the same. The silence of the drive is comfortable and pretty soon Chris feels his eyelids drooping. In no time at all, he’s asleep.

***

A phone ringing is what wakes Chris up from his impromptu nap. He manages to crack his eyes open just in time to see Zach pull into a motel parking lot and fish his phone from where it had fallen in the crease of the seat.

“Miles?” Zach asks, frowning. As he’s getting out of the car, he sees Chris, still bleary eyed and confused, and gives him a small smile before stepping away to continue his phone conversation.

It takes Chris a moment to realize what that phone call could mean. Miles is calling and he probably wants to know why Zach hadn’t been answering his texts all day. Texts Zach hadn’t even known about because Chris had deleted them immediately. Shit.

Too late to do anything about that now, Chris knows. He sighs, worry and guilt warring in his mind as he wonders what Miles would say and how Zach would react. It probably wasn’t good news for him either way, and he hates that he’s probably ruined his relationship with Zach due to his own stupidity and jealousy.

“Chris.”

Pushing back his discomfort, Chris turns to look at Zach. His friend seems to be almost vibrating with barely contained anger and his eyebrows are knit together in a way that makes his face look dark and almost terrifyingly intense. Chris knows immediately that he’s in real trouble.

“Yeah?” Chris asks, offering up a tight smile even though he knows it’s likely useless.

“I talked to Miles,” Zach said. His voice is low, contained, and that just scares Chris more. “He said he’s been texting me all day and wanted to know why I hadn’t answered. I checked, and there were no texts from him. But guess who had my phone all day doing who knows what?”

Chris gulps, but knows there’s really nothing he can do to refute it. “Me,” he answers softly. “I’m sorry, Zach, I just…”

“Just what?” Zach demands. “Just invaded my privacy and deleted my texts without telling me? How could you- I thought we were friends, Chris!”

“We are!” Chris says immediately, sitting up straighter in his seat. He wishes suddenly that he was standing as well. “We are. I’m sorry, Zach, you have no idea. I wish I hadn’t done it, man, really.”

Zach’s face softens a little at that, and he leans heavily on the side of the car. “Then why did you?” Zach asks, voice so quiet Chris barely hears the question. “Why would you _do_ that?”

That’s the big question, and really, Chris doesn’t even know how to go about answering it. There are so many reasons, so many answers. He was angry, he was protecting Zach, he was jealous, he was petty, he didn’t want Zach talking to anyone but him, he hates the idea of Zach maybe getting back with his ex.

They’re all true, of course, but he’s not sure how much he should tell Zach. He’s already damaged their relationship enough, there’s no telling what confessing that he maybe has feelings for his best friend will do, especially if Zach’s thinking of going back to Miles like Miles obviously wants.

“Chris,” Zach says, voice going dangerously low again.

“Sorry.” Chris takes a deep breath, steeling himself. “I was angry and… and jealous, Zach,” he says steadily, ignoring how much he just wants to shake apart. “I didn’t want him trying to get back together with you.”

“You’re not my keeper,” Zach retorts. Chris can’t tell if he looks more or less angry with Chris’ probably less than satisfactory answer.

“I know,” Chris replies, trying to ignore the ache in his chest. “I know.”

“I can’t deal with this right now,” Zach says after several moments of uncomfortable silence. He rubs one hand through his hair, mussing it up in a way that is both distractingly and inappropriately attractive. “I’m getting a room for myself. We can… we can talk in the morning.”

He tosses the keys to Chris, who catches them only by instinct, and grabs his bag. In moments he’s gone inside the motel without a glance back, and Chris has the terrible idea that Zach won’t be there in the morning even though he’s never known Zach to back down when they really need to talk. And this is definitely one of those times.

Chris feels his stomach growl and looks down at his watch. It’s almost 9pm. But he doesn’t think he can stomach anything after his conversation with Zach. With a heavy sigh, he grabs his bag and heads over to the motel reception area.

It’s going to be a long night.

**Author's Note:**

> Author's notes [on tumblr](http://voldiebuns.tumblr.com/post/122437105614/authors-notes-for-ride-chapter-twelve).
> 
> Concrit welcome. If you like my fic, come chat with me [on tumblr](http://voldiebuns.tumblr.com/) or maybe [buy me a coffee](http://ko-fi.com/A7274PC).


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